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EF1 tornado in Wright County, Iowa

Tornado April 7, 2024 · Wright County, Iowa

EF1

Rating

0.7 mi

Whole path

70 yd

Path width

$20K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Hamilton County → Wright County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 70 yards (0.04 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado entered into Wright County from Hamilton County. The tornado immediately impacted a hog confinement building upon entering the county producing severe damage to the back third of one of the buildings with EF1 damage. The tornado continued northward before a more northwest movement occurred and dissipated shortly thereafter.

The wider storm

A surface low was east of the area with two associated surface boundaries draped across the area. By late afternoon the two boundaries began to merge with thunderstorm development in central to northern Iowa. Instability was modest, but concentrated in the lower three km of the atmosphere, which allowed for enough stretching to support a brief tornado.

Began near Dows (42.5577, -93.5764).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1169911. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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